September 5th, 2010: The Day It All Began
by TheHopelessShipper
Summary: Why is Jade so mean? Why does Cat act so...Cat? And WHY does Robbie carry Rex everywhere? Find out how it all began! Bade, and a teeny bit of Cabbie. / Have save Victorious! Go to ipetitions dot com slash petitions slash victorious
1. Meeting Everyone

**Author's Note: I was bored, so I came up with this idea. Please review!**

It was September 5th, the first day of school at Hollywood Arts High. Teachers greeted the students warmly, the seniors walked with their heads high, and the freshman mostly kept to themselves. Friends compared schedules and yelled across the hall. It was slightly chaotic, as was typical for the beginning of the school year.

Two freshmen, Andre Harris and Robbie Shapiro, walked through the doors into the main hall. Andre looked around, a small smile on his face. Robbie tried not to make eye contact with anyone.

"Can you believe we're finally here?" Andre asked. "After all the auditioning and worrying…"

"Ohhh," Robbie moaned, "I don't know if I can do this."

Andre put his hand on his best friend's shoulder. "You_ can_ do this! This is our chance to branch out, ya know?"

"What if I don't want to branch out?"

"Relax, man," replied Andre. "C'mon, let's look for our lockers. Mine is number 211, which is over….there."

Robbie consulted his schedule and saw that his locker number was 414. "Mine is on the other side of the hall," he said.

The two friends looked at each other for a moment, surprised. They didn't know they'd go their separate ways so soon. Would it be strange to go to their lockers together? Probably, since they were guys and didn't want to look lame. "Well, see you later, then," Andre said.

"Yeah, bye." Robbie raised his hand to wave. They parted ways.

On his way to his locker, Robbie accidently bumped into a tiny, red-headed girl.

"Oh, sorry! I-I didn't see you!" Robbie exclaimed.

The girl's eyes widened. "What's that supposed to mean?" she yelled.

"S-sorry, I mean, I just wasn't wa-watching where I was going," Robbie stuttered. He wasn't used to talking to girls.

The girl smiled. "Oh, that's okay! I'm Cat!"

"Uh, I'm Robbie."

"Bye!" she said, and skipped away. Robbie stared after her, wondering why she left so suddenly. He hoped she didn't think he was weird. Although she seemed kind of weird herself. And cute.

On the other side of the hall, Andre had some trouble opening his locker. He didn't want to ask a teacher for help, but he knew the bell would ring soon and he needed to put some books in his locker. He desperately jiggled the handle.

"Want some help?" came a calm voice from behind him. Andre turned around and saw an upperclassman, a tall guy with dark brown hair. The boy smiled.

"What's your combo?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"Your locker combination. So I can open it."

"Oh, it's 33-56-53."

The boy turned the lock for a few seconds, then yanked the handle. The locker opened.

"Thanks," Andre said, amazed.

"No problem," the boy replied with a genuine smile.

Andre put his books and jacket in his locker and closed it. He realized the boy was still there, kneeling down, at his own locker. "Uh, I'm Andre," Andre said after a moment.

"Beck." He didn't look up until he finished putting some things in his locker and then slammed it closed. "Nice to meet you."

Andre slapped Beck's hand in a traditional guy-greeting, impressed by his manners.

"So what's your first class?" asked Beck.

Andre looked at his schedule. "Uhh…Mr. Sikowitz's Intro to Acting class. You?"

"Same!"

"Wait, you're a freshman?"

"Yeah, why?" Beck folded his arms, an amused expression on his face.

"Oh, nothing, you seemed older…" Andre trailed off. "Sorry."

"No problem, man."

At that moment, Robbie quickly walked up to the boys. "Hey Andre, isn't your first class Intro to Acting? With Mr. Sikowitz?" Then he noticed Beck standing there. Robbie didn't really do well around good looking guys. They were usually popular and made fun of Robbie or forced him do their homework. "Hi," Robbie mumbled to Beck.

"'Sup," Beck said. "I have that class, too. Why don't you walk with us?"

Robbie's head lifted when he head the sincerity in Beck's voice. Smiling, he nodded, and they all walked down the hall.


	2. Getting To Know Each Other

Mr. Sikowitz's students sat nervously in their chairs. The bell was about to ring and their teacher hadn't even shown up yet. Robbie, Andre, and Beck all sat next to each other. Robbie spotted Cat sitting across the room, whose face lit up when she saw him. She eagerly waved. Robbie waved back, then blushed and looked down at his lap.

The bell rang, and Mr. Sikowitz was still not there. A few murmurs and whispers started as kids wondered where he was.

Suddenly, the door in the back of the classroom banged open and a man ran into the room. "RAAAGHHHHH!" he yelled. Everyone screamed.

The man laughed crazily. He was barefoot and wore pants that were too big and a multitude of patterned sweaters and scarves. Was _this_ Mr. Sikowitz?

"I love doing that to my freshman classes on the first day of school!" the man said, still laughing. "Did I get your blood pumping?"

The students finally calmed down. No one said anything.

"Ah, I see you're all still scared of me, aren't you? Well, let me introduce myself. I am Sikowitz, your acting teacher for the rest of your years here at Hollywood Arts. Now that you know me, I must get to know you. How many of you like acting?"

Most kids slowly raised their hands.

"And how many of you are _good _at acting?" This time, no one moved, afraid of appearing full of themselves. "That's what I thought. And that's good because my job is to make mold you all into fantastic actors and actresses!"

Sikowitz walked onto the small stage in the front of the room and to the whiteboard. He picked up a blue marker and wrote "Acting is:" in larger letters.

"Now," he said, "who can finish this statement for me?"

Everyone was quiet for a moment, thinking. Then Cat called out, "Fun!"

"Right it is." Sikowitz wrote "fun" underneath his first words. "Now can anyone give me a _better_ answer?" Cat sat back in her chair and pouted.

"A creative way to express yourself," volunteered Beck.

Sikowitz smiled. "Yes, yes, good one! I like it!" He wrote it on the board, and everyone turned to look at Beck, studying him. He smiled bashfully, glancing around the room. He caught the eye of a girl with pale skin and dark hair, sitting near the back. She didn't move, just watched him. Beck turned away.

"Anyone else?" Sikowitz asked. Nobody said a word. He sighed. "Oh, come on kids! Give me something to work with here! Nobody has _anything_ to say about acting at all?" He looked eagerly at his students, who simply stared at his with dazed expressions.

"Well, alright. We have approximately," he looked at his wrist, though there was no watch on it, "twenty five minutes left in class. How about I put you in groups so you can get to know each other. How does that sound? Shall I treat you all like little fourth graders? Hm?"

The students looked around uncertainly.

"This is high school now, kids! It's time to wake up and smell the coconut milk! You'll be expected to work harder than you ever have in your short little lives, because not only are you older, but you are attending a highly respected performing arts school. So everyone needs to step up and take on more responsibility, because I will _not_ tolerate this lack of participation in my class! Does everyone hear me?" Sikowitz paused and stared at his class. Then he burst out laughing.

"Ohh, ha ha ha! Oh man! Wow! You should all see the looks on your faces! Ha ha ha ha ha!" He doubled over, clutching his stomach. "Oh man, I got you guys good! Ha!"

Slowly, the class smiled and began to laugh, too.

"You guys are too easy!" Their teacher continued. "I didn't mean any of that stuff I just said. Go on, talk with your friends, the rest of the class is a free period. Ha ha ha…" Sikowitz sat down on the stage, leaning against the back wall, and pulled out a book. He looked like he was reading it, though the book was upside down.

Just a few minutes later, the bell rang, signaling the end of first period. The classroom erupted into a flurry of bags and students, as the kids talked amongst themselves and compared schedules.

Robbie, Andre, and Beck didn't have second period together, which was history for Robbie, music for Andre, and English for Beck. Cat walked up to the boys.

"Hi Robbie! What's your next class?" she asked cheerfully.

Andre and Beck raised their eyebrows at Robbie, as if to say, _who's the cute chick? _

"Um, I have history class."

"Oh my gosh, so do me and my friend Jade!" Cat exclaimed happily.

"J-jade?"

"Yeah, that girl over there!" She pointed to the girl who had stared at Beck earlier; she was walking towards the door. "Come one, we'll all walk there together!"

"Oh, uh, well, that's okay…" Robbie started to protest, but Cat was already pulling him away. His friends waved goodbye.

Robbie tried not to shake. He barely talked to girls and had always walked to class alone, unless Andre was going the same way he was.

Robbie had pretty much no friends except Andre. He and Andre became friends when they were in second grade, and nobody would talk to Andre except Robbie, who was also shunned by his classmates for being "weird". Everyone was too jealous of Andre because of his musical talent, and they thought he was stuck up. Eventually, Andre made more friends, but he stuck by Robbie for the next six years at their school.

Andre was even the one who convinced Robbie to apply to Hollywood Arts so they could continue going to school together. Robbie had never considered performing before, but found out that he liked acting and wasn't half bad at it. It even made him somewhat more confident.

But girls. Girls were still hard to talk to. And now Robbie was alone with_ two_ attractive girls, one who seemed to really like him and one who looked slightly terrifying. Robbie swallowed nervously.

"Uhh, hi, I'm Robbie," he said, holding out his hand, trying to introduce himself to Jade.

She glanced at his hand before turning away. "Hi. Jade."

The whole way there Jade stared straight ahead, occasionally sipping from a coffee cup, and Cat babbled about everything in the world; her brother, cats, Wahoo Punch, and old ladies. Robbie was only half listening. He was too nervous to speak.

The rest of the day passed by like a blur. Andre and Robbie only had one other class together, which made Robbie wonder if he and Andre would grow apart this year. It was different at this school—if you had a cool talent, you were respected, not made fun of like in grade school. Robbie was afraid Andre might make more friends and forget about him.

Robbie met Andre and Beck by Andre's locker. "Hey man, where ya been?" Andre asked, grinning. "Meet any girls?"

"Oh, nahh…they tried talking to me, but I turned 'em down. Too many ladies." In reality, it was Beck who got all the girls—or rather, was followed by them. By the end of the day, many were begging him for his number, but all were turned down.

Andre laughed. "Well Beck and I were talking, and there's this great place a few blocks over called The Groovy Smoothie. Apparently it's moving to a different location soon, somewhere in Seattle…anyway their smoothies are half off for the rest of the year until they close down!"

"Wanna come with us?" Beck asked.

"Sure," Robbie replied. He wasn't used to hanging out with people except Andre, but he figured this could be fun. Besides, Beck seemed nice, and if no one else was going, it wouldn't be too awkward.

While Beck grabbed some books from his locker, Cat skipped up to Robbie. "Hiiiii!" she sang.

"Hi, Cat."

Beck and Andre looked at Robbie expectantly, who jumped a little when he realized they were staring him down. "Oh! Guys, this is Cat. Cat, this is Andre and that's Beck."

"'Sup," said Andre.

"Hey," Beck said, "do you want to come with us to The Groovy Smoothie?"

Robbie froze.

"Yeah, we're just gonna grab a smoothie, chill a little, it'll be fun!" Andre added.

"Sure, I'd love to go! Can Jade come?"

"Jade?"

"Yeah, my friend. We went to grade school together. She's in Sikowitz's class, too."

"Oh, her. Well, Jade seems kind of…scary," said Beck as he crossed his arms. He didn't sound accusing or judgmental, but stated it as if it were a simple fact.

"I know." Cat looked down. "She doesn't have many friends. Right before 7th grade she started dating this guy, and all the girls got really jealous and hated her. Then we met and became friends, really close. She seems scary because she thinks no one will like her ever again, but at the same time….she does want friends. So can she please please please just come with us?"

The group was silent. Andre looked from Robbie to Beck. "I don't care," he said, shrugging.

Cat then turned her attention to Beck. "What do you say? Pleeeeaase?"

"Sure. Sounds good."

"Robbie?"

Robbie didn't know what to say. He was nervous about hanging out with girls, but he liked Cat so much, he decided he didn't mind. "Okay."

"Yay!" Cat cheered, jumped up and down, and gave him a hug. "I'll get Jade and meet you guys there!" She ran off.


	3. A Little Bit Of Romance?

"We're _what_?"

"We're going to The Groovy Smoothie with Robbie, Andre, and Beck! C'mon, it'll be fun!"

"No. No way. I don't want to go. I don't even know them."

"Please, Jade? I don't really know them either, just Robbie, but they all seem so nice! And I know you want friends."

Jade sighed. "Yeah, I would love that," she said sarcastically, although deep down, she really meant it. "Fine. I guess we can go."

Cat squealed and gave Jade a hug.

At The Groovy Smoothie, Andre, Beck, Robbie, Jade, and Cat all sat quietly around a large table, sipping politely from their smoothies. They were all self-conscious and nobody knew what to talk about. So far, it had just been small-talk.

"So," said Andre.

"So," Robbie repeated.

"Sew?" questioned Beck.

Cat giggled and poked Robbie in the arm. "SO….not muscular!" Everybody laughed.

And suddenly, the atmosphere changed. The young fourteen-year-olds talked with each other easily, joking and acting silly as teenagers often do. Even Jade, who was usually so moody, seemed to be enjoying herself.

A few hours later, they were still there.

"Hey, you guys wanna play truth or dare?" Andre asked.

"Let's do it!" everyone agreed.

"Okay, Robbie. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Okay, ah…why don't you get contacts?" Andre asked.

Robbie subconsciously pushed his glasses up. "I tried it once, but the eye doctor quit after I poked myself in the eye twenty times and screamed twice." He shrugged as if to say,_ No big deal._ "Cat, truth or dare?"

"Ummm, truth!"

"Alright, let's see. Who was your first crush?"

"Leonardo DiCaprio," she answered immediately. She looked around. "What, he's hot in The Titanic!" She giggled. "Andre, truth or dare?"

"Truth, I guess."

"You guys are no fun!" exclaimed Jade. "Only truths? Wimps."

Andre lightly shoved Jade, who grinned.

"What was the name of the first song you wrote?" Cat asked.

Andre's face shut down. "Um. I would prefer not to answer that question at this time…."

"C'mon!" "Answer!" "Just do it, man!" everyone encouraged him.

Andre held his hands up in an "I surrender" way. "Okay, okay. It was called… There's A Gorilla….In my Underwear." He mumbled the last few words.

Nobody spoke. Then Beck laughed loudly, and the rest joined in. It was the kind of laughter that was completely contagious, and after a while one laughs simply because they can't stop. When someone's laughter died down, just looking at someone else started it right back up again. Something clicked, and it felt like they had all been friends forever.

Finally they stopped laughing. Robbie wiped some tears from his eyes.

The gang continued to play, and the truths and dares became more intense. Then Andre said, "Truth or dare, Beck?"

"Dare," he replied, grinning mischievously.

Andre matched his grin. "I dare you to…kiss Jade."

Jade's eyebrows went up very high. Beck blushed ever so slightly. Cat and Robbie looked at each other, and they knew they were thinking the same thing. Would Beck accept the challenge, and would Jade allow it?

Beck shrugged. "Alright, if that's what you want." He stood up from the table and walked around to the other side, where Jade was sitting.

_Jade actually looks nervous_, thought Cat. _Maybe she likes him! Oooh! Romance! How romantic! Oh, I just said that. He he._

In one swift movement, before anyone could think, Beck leaned down—he was several inches taller than Jade, plus he was standing while she was sitting—and kissed her. For a long time. A few whoops and hollers came from the table.

When they broke apart, Beck and Jade seemed to stare at each other for an eternity.

"You like him, Jade."

"Um, no. Stop insisting that I do, because I _really _don't."

Cat flopped onto her back on her bed and twisted the phone cord around her finger. She sighed dramatically. "I know you do! You're always staring at him at school."

"So what if I do?" Jade shot back. "Beck's a popular guy with good hair, and I'm the quiet girl everyone thinks is emo. I have no chance with him. He'd never go out with me."

"You never know—"

"I do know. Now shut up. Let's talk about something else."


	4. Coupling Up

The months flew by, and the kids at Hollywood Arts all felt very much at home. It was easy to get in the rhythm of things, to find your niche. After the first day of school, Andre, Beck, Robbie, Cat, and Jade all stuck together. Jade wasn't so lonely and for the first time in a long time, she felt like she belonged.

Robbie admitted it to no one, but he had a giant crush on Cat. She was the first girl to show any interest in him whatsoever, who didn't run away the second she saw him coming.

He wanted to tell Andre or Beck about it, but he was afraid they would force him to ask her out. First of all, he would never have the nerve to do so. And second of all, what if she said no? Robbie would rather just be friends with Cat than have her know his true feelings and not reciprocate them.

One day in the middle of the week, Sikowitz announced to his class that auditions for a musical would be coming up. It wasn't the first show that year, but it was the first show the freshman could audition for because they had all had to pass The Bird Scene first. Everyone was excited.

"The musical is written by one of the juniors, Grace Bailey. She will be part of the casting process, so if you have any questions about what is expected, you may ask her," Sikowitz announced at the end of class one day. "How many of you are auditioning?" The majority of the class raised their hands, including Beck, Andre, and Jade.

"Fabulous. I hope you all get wonderful parts!"

"How come you're not auditioning?" Cat asked Robbie as they walked out of the room.

"Oh, I don't know…I'm not really that good. Maybe the next one. What about you?"

Cat sighed. "The rehearsals would take up too much of my time. My parents want me to spend some quality time with my brother before he goes back to the special hospital in January."

"Special hospital?"

"Don't ask…I'm not allowed to talk about it!"

Robbie shook his head. Suddenly, he spotted Beck. "Oh, look, here comes Beck…" he stopped when he saw who was walking with him. "And Jade?"

Cat squealed. "Look! Jade looks really happy about something. Aww!"

Beck and Jade walked side by side. Beck was smiling and trying to look at Jade without her noticing. He said something Robbie and Cat couldn't hear, and Jade threw her head back and laughed.

Robbie and Cat watched as Beck caught Jade's arm and turned her towards him. He spoke, and Jade looked surprised, then nodded. Beck gave her a hug and began to walk away. Jade simply stood there, watching him go.

Cat ran up to Jade. "Oh my gosh! What happened!"

"Beck just asked me out."

"Whaaat? No way! That's so awesome! Yay yay yay yay yay!" Cat was in hyper mode, spinning around and grinning wildly. "I'm so happy for you!"

Jade couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, I'm happy for me too."

A few weeks later, Beck and Jade were the "It" couple at Hollywood Arts. All the girls were jealous of Jade. At first she didn't mind, but then almost all the girls in her classes stopped talking to her. _What have I done wrong?_ Jade thought. _Why do they have to hate me just because of my boyfriend?_ Jade had been making many new friends, breaking out of her shell. But once again, girls looked down at her because of the boy she was dating. It was 7th grade all over again.

One night in late December, Cat and Jade were talking on the phone when Jade brought up Robbie's crush on Cat.

"He likes you, you know. It's so obvious."

"He does not!" Cat protested.

"He really does, Cat. He's like a little puppy, following you around and doing whatever you want him to do. Actually, it's kind of pathetic. Just go out with him already."

"Robbie and I are just friends, Jade!"

"Yeah, for now."

After they hung up, Cat sat on her bed thinking about Robbie. She liked him, that was for sure, but only as a friend. Robbie was funny and smart and super nice.

And yet….Cat couldn't help but get little butterflies when she thought about him. She instantly felt better whenever she saw Robbie at school and realized, now, that she always got shivers when he gave her a hug or touched her arm.

But no. Cat couldn't allow herself to feel this way about Robbie. She'd never had good luck with guys, and she didn't want to lose Robbie as a friend.

Maybe, just maybe, she could get Robbie some sort of gift, like a stuffed animal or a plant. Something he could give all his attention to, so that he would forget about Cat. She vowed to get him something tomorrow.

"Robbie! I have something for you!" Cat sang out the following Friday.

Robbie turned around from his locker, looking at Cat expectantly.

Cat carried a giant gift bag with a huge red bow on it. "I got you a present! Here! Open it!" She thrust the bag at him.

Robbie opened the bag and pulled out a giant puppet. It was a male puppet, with a big head and brown hair. It wore a red t-shirt, jeans, and gym shoes. Robbie looked at Cat quizzically.

"It's a ventriloquist puppet! I got it from my brother's friend! He had a special deal on it and I saw it and thought of you." Cat smiled shyly.

"Wow," said Robbie, admiring the puppet. "Thanks, it looks awesome!"

"Yay!" exclaimed Cat. "You can bring him with you everywhere! He'll be your new best friend! Like a puppy, but it's a doll! Oh, what are you going to name him? How about Mike? Or Sammy? Or Rex? Or Brian? Or—"

"Rex," Robbie interrupted. "I had a goldfish named Rex once, so this is perfect!"

Cat squealed and gave Robbie a huge hug, then ran off to class. Hopefully, her plan would work.


	5. Going Downhill

Just one week later, many of the freshman students whispered to each other in the halls before school, wondering what in the world had happened to Cat Valentine.

Cat had been missing school for four days. Her friends were all worried about her, and they wondered why she hadn't tried to contact any of them.

"I really hope Cat's okay," Robbie said, concerned.

"She's fine," said Jade, leaning against Beck's locker.

"How do you know?"

"If it was serious, the teachers would've told us something, right?" she relplied.

"She probably just came down with a bad case of the flu," said Rex the puppet. Everyone groaned. Robbie had been trying out his new gift nonstop ever since Cat gave it to him. He was so pleased she had given him a present and wanted to show her how much it meant to him, so he didn't even let Rex out of his sight. Even now, with Cat gone, Robbie continued to talk through Rex.

Suddenly, Cat walked in the front doors. Her friends all rushed to her.

"Cat! You're back!" "Are you okay?" "Why didn't you call us?" Everyone talked at the same time, overwhelming Cat.

"I'm fine," she answered, though the tone of her voice indicated that she was not fine at all. Cat looked down at the floor. "I'm _fine_," she repeated.

"Were you sick?" asked Jade.

"No…" Cat shuffled her feet around and wouldn't look any of her friends in the eye. Something was clearly bothering her. This was not typical Cat behavior. Where was the bubbly, cheerful girl they all knew so well?

"Cat," said Robbie, putting his arm around her, "what's wrong? You can tell us."

Beck led Cat over to the Wahoo Punch machine on the other side of the hall. He bought her a can, opened it, and handed it to her. Cat took a tiny sip. This alarmed everyone even more; her favorite drink _ever_ was Wahoo Punch. What was going on?

"C'mon, spill," instructed Jade.

Cat sighed and began to talk. "It's my brother. He's not doing so well. He's always been really… weird, you know, since he was born and everything….but now he's really, really sick. It's really serious. I had to stay home with him…in case…in case…" she couldn't finish speaking, as tears began to roll down her face. Her friends enveloped her in a hug, even Jade, who was not a big fan of physical affection.

"So why are you here today?" asked Andre.

"I had to come to school so I could get some homework from my teachers, and tell them I'd be gone for a while."

"What?" yelled Rex.

"For how long?" asked Beck.

"One or two weeks. I don't really know."

"Well, we'll be here for you, whenever you need us," Robbie said comfortingly. Cat simply nodded as she tried to hold back more tears.

The next two weeks were not the best for Robbie. It broke his heart to see Cat so devastated and he didn't like not seeing her every day at school, so he took lots of his frustration out on the other students, through Rex. Andre, Beck, and Jade were also sad for Cat, but Jade had her own problems to worry about.

The girls at Hollywood Arts had only gotten meaner as the weeks went by. Hardly anyone talked to Jade except the losers, such as Sinjin van Cleef.

Beck tried his best to stick up for his girlfriend, but it was hard—if Beck was around, all the girls tried to hit on him and totally didn't get the hint to leave; they would shove Jade out of the way to fawn over Beck. When a jealous Jade yelled at the girls to leave Beck alone, it only confirmed their thoughts. Jade was a bee-yotch with major envy issues, and most freshman girls unanimously decided to leave Jade West alone for good. This caused her to retract into her shell once again.

"You can't let them get to you," Beck said one night over the phone to Jade.

"Shut up. It's easy for you to say, nobody hates you except a couple of lame guys who want to go out with me. All the girls love you," Jade replied.

"I don't _care_ about all the girls. Seriously, I couldn't care less about any of them! You always say they're idiots, and I agree! The only girls I care about are Cat and you. So I really don't want you to worry."

Jade lay back on her bed and squeezed her eyes shut. "I—I just…"

"Jade," Beck said quietly, "you shouldn't worry about those girls. Who cares if they don't like you? You still have Cat; plus me, Robbie, and Andre. _We're_ here for you. _We're_ the only ones who matter. Just let the others go."

"No," Jade said harshly. "You just don't understand. No one does."

"Jade—"

"Stop. This is why I can't talk about this with you. You're used to everyone liking you _all_ the time! You've never had to deal with what I'm dealing with. I've had people hate me since the seventh grade! And guess what, that's hard!"

"But Jade—"

"Don't interrupt me. Just shut up. You can't help me. No one can." With that, Jade hung up.

The next day at school, Robbie found his friend crying in the janitor's closet.

"J-Jade?" he stuttered, shocked to see the always-tough Jade breaking down.

Jade's head snapped up. "What?" she growled.

Robbie took a step back. "I-I just heard, I was walking by, I w-wanted to see…"

"Go," Jade said. She lifted her hand which was holding a pair of scissors. "Now."

Robbie froze, his eyes locked on the scissors. Jade followed his eyes to her hand and sighed. "I'm not cutting," she said flatly. Robbie was silent, too dazed to speak, so Jade continued. "I thought about it, awhile ago, back in eighth grade. But I didn't. And I'm not going to now. I just like scissors, okay? _Okay?_ "

Robbie nodded his head robotically.

"Good. Now leave."

Robbie turned to go, but then Rex spoke. "Talk to Beck," he said. Jade's eyes widened and Robbie shrugged a little, gave a sympathetic smile, and left.

Jade wiped her eyes and threw down the scissors. She sighed, stood up, then stormed out of the closet to Beck, who was standing at his locker.

"We need to talk."

Beck turned around, his arm mid-stretch. "Okay."

"You need to stop all this _nonsense _about forgetting all the girls."

"Then you need to stop talking to me like that," Beck said matter-of-factly. Jade's mouth fell open. "Yeah, you heard me! I'm not just your boyfriend; I'm your friend, too. Can't you be a little nicer?"

"I don't like being nice," Jade mumbled.

Grinning, Beck kissed her. "Okay. Let's not talk about it again. See you at lunch!"

Jade watched her boyfriend go, the corners of her mouth turning upright ever so slightly.


	6. Friends For Life

Finally, Cat came back to school, much to the joy of her friends.

"You're back!" Andre exclaimed happily, hugging Cat. "What's up, Red Velvet?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cat yelled, taking a step back.

Andre frowned. "Uh, well, you're hair is red like a red velvet cupcake?"

"Oh!" Cat broke into a smile. "I love cupcakes! They're so cute with pink frosting swirled on top." She looked around the group as everyone stared at her, slightly confused.

"Anyway," said Robbie. "How's your brother?"

"Oh, he's good," replied Cat nonchalantly. "Still weird." She skipped over to the Wahoo Punch vending machine. "Did I miss anything important while I was gone?"

Now her friends were even more puzzled. "Uh, we had a test in history class," said Beck.

"And Sikowitz assigned us a big acting scene to learn. But he said he'd give you some extra days once you got back," Robbie added.

"Hey, why does Cat get extra treatment when we all worked harder than her? That's some unfair chizz!" Rex said. Everybody turned at stared at Robbie.

"Why is Rex being mean to me?" yelled Cat.

"I'm sorry! I can't control him!" said Robbie.

"Huh?" said Andre, frowning in confusion.

"You know he's just a puppet," Beck added.

"Don't call him that! It's an offensive term!"

"You guys are all creepy, and not the good kind," Jade said, and walked away, glaring. Beck shrugged and followed her, waving goodbye.

"Well, I gotta go too." Andre looked at Robbie, then at Cat. "See y'all around, I guess."

That left Robbie and Cat, alone for the first time in more than a month. "So," said Robbie, getting closer to Cat. "How are you?"

"Good," she replied cheerfully.

"You know, I uh, I've been bringing Rex around everywhere ever since you gave him to me. I really like him. I…I really—"

"That's awesome!" Cat interrupted, pleased that her plan from so long ago had worked so well. "I have to talk to my teachers about some missing work. Byyyyeeee!" She skipped away, unaware of Robbie's despair.

Robbie sighed. He was about to say "I really like you" before Cat interrupted, and he feared that now that Cat was acting differently, he might never get the chance. But it was probably for the best that he forget about her. She was too…_Cat,_ and the whole situation with her brother had obviously changed her. It might be better to find some other girl to pine over, Robbie decided. No more longing for Cat.

Yet he couldn't help but have a little soft spot in his heart for Cat Valentine.

Months flew by, and before they knew it, it was May. The school year was almost over, and their freshman year almost completely conquered.

Cat, Robbie, Andre, Beck, and Jade had become the best of friends throughout the year. None of them had ever felt so close to anyone else, and even though they never spoke about it, they were all grateful to have each other.

"Let's swear to always be friends," Cat said one day, as they all sat together on the stairs in the main hall after school. "No matter what!"

"That's impossible," said Jade. "We can't all be friends forever."

"Who says?" replied Beck. Jade rolled her eyes and snuggled a little closer to him.

"Jade's kinda right," said Andre. "This is high school. We may be close now but we'll always meet new people and we can't all do the same stuff. We might grow apart in the next few years."

"But we have to _try_ to stay friends!" insisted Cat.

"Yeah, we already have that whole ping-pong team thing," said Robbie. "It kind of binds us together for life."

"What? You mean I'm stuck with this chizz-bag for all of existence?" said Rex. Everyone grinned.

Suddenly, the front doors burst open and a girl wearing huge heels strutted in, followed quickly by a shorter, younger looking girl. The first girl, who also sported a flashy, neon blue tank top and shiny gold skinny jeans, barely turned her head to yell at the girl behind her. "Hurry _up_!"

"Well, slow down!" The second girl yelled back. She pushed some of her straight brown hair away from her face and groaned. "_Why_ am I here again?"

"Because I have to clean out my locker and I need help carrying everything and all of my friends were too busy!"

"Yeah, I bet," the second girl muttered under her breath.

High-Heel Girl walked past the gang, her over-powering perfume nearly gagging them all.

"Who was that?" Andre asked, coughing.

"Trina Vega," answered Beck. "She's a sophomore."

"She was a teacher's aid for our English class," added Jade. "But she was so annoying the teacher made her leave after the very first day. She kept trying to do a pedicure and putting her feet on the teacher's desk."

"Wow," said Robbie, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah."

The girl who followed Trina in was completely lost. "Trina?" she called. "Ugh, why did I let her drag me here?" the girl said to herself as she looked around the hall.

"She's kind of pretty," Robbie said. "From a distance, at least. I can't really see her face." Andre agreed.

Beck opened his mouth, but Jade cut him off before he could speak. "Don't even think about contributing to this conversation." She picked up his arm and put it around her shoulders.

"She went that way!" Cat called to the girl, pointing up the stairs.

She didn't even glance at any of them as she ran by. "Thanks," she muttered, then, "Trinaaaaa!"

Andre, Robbie, Cat, Beck, and Jade all looked at each other.

"Huh," said Andre. "Wonder who that was."


End file.
